Happily unmarried

Dec 14, 2014, 03:42 IST
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Nikshubha Garg

What happens when two happily married strangers meet and have a whirlwind romance? Rohit Roy and Mona Singh are all set with their new play, Unfaithfully Yours, which shows how love isn’t only about matrimony

A simple story with a fresh take or a complex one that explores various nuances of human relationships, love stories are almost always a hit with audiences across the world. Director-producer Raell Padamsee takes this thought forward, albeit in a different way in her new play, Unfaithfully Yours.

Mona Singh and Ronit Roy in Unfaith-fully Yours

The English production, which marks the theatre debut of actors Rohit Roy and Mona Singh, revolves around the protagonists Akash and Preet who are happy in their respective marriages but meet due to a twist of fate and embark on a new relationship. How their relationship evolves over 25 years forms the crux of the play.

“Their meeting is an amalgamation of sexual passion and emotional bonding. It is through them that we get an insight into the diverse shades of human nature,” elaborates Padamsee. The theatre veteran explains that she chose Roy and Singh as the protagonists as she needed actors who could display a wide range of emotions and weren’t averse to the idea of sporting a grey look in the play.

“Unfaithfully Yours begins when Preet (Mona) is 25 and Akash (Rohit) is 30 and spans 25 years. The roles were very demanding as the actors had to be comfortable playing different age groups. Also, they share an amazing chemistry which added an extra zing to their performances,” says Padamsee.

As for the actors, they were glad that the role came at the right time when they were yearning to make their debut on stage. Singh says, “I loved the story’s complexity. While shooting for my recent release Zed Plus, I was inspired by my co-stars, Manish Tiwari and Kulbhushan Kharbanda. Since both of them are from theatre, they would rehearse before shots and it added an edge to their performance. It enthused me to do theatre.”

Roy, on the other hand, reveals that he had to unlearn a lot of things to ‘fit’ into the realm of theatre. “While on television, the camera follows you, in theatre, you have to make your presence felt on stage through your body language and voice modulation. Unless, the person seated on the last row can hear and see you, you aren’t good enough,” he smiles.

Singh is optimistic that the production will strike a note with romantics as well as cynics. “The play will help audiences experience something which isn’t possible in real life yet it would be on the wish list of every couple,” concludes Singh.

Unfaithfully Yours premieres at the National Centre for Performing Arts on December 19 at 8 pm